War has been declared in the technology industry. Thousands of executives and companies are stomping on the patent battleground in a seemingly endless battle to gain financial or market advantages over rivals by taking them to court over claims of patent infringements.

It isn't always necessary to air your legal laundry in public (especially if negotiating cross-licensing deals) and if Apple doesn't recognise the PR consequences of continuing to do so, it could start to affect the bottom line.